Reading back from Experimental Painting

ABSTRACT

My book, Experimental Painting (1970), was the product of a decade of coming to terms with the history of modern art and with contemporary manifestations of the avantgarde. While at Cambridge from 1960 to 1967, I published art criticism, initially in locally published magazines, and then went on to review art exhibitions both nationally and internationally. This led to being co-editor of Form, which produced further opportunities. The term ‘experimental’ that I adopted in 1970 was intended to suggest the paradigm of scientific discovery which suited some, if not all, of the artists I studied. This article considers concepts directly imported from contemporary scientific enquiry that seemed relevant to me at the time, notably those from experimental psychology, psychoanalysis and structural linguistics. I relate them to the character of intellectual life at Cambridge in a period which saw much debate about the relationship between Sciences and Humanities as ‘Two Cultures’.     

Blame it on Kissinger? The international factor and the failure of the “Markezinis Experiment”

The aborted 1967 attempt of the dictatorship to transform itself into some form of democracy has generally been under-researched, and even more so with regard to its international implications. And yet, the issue of foreign influences on the “Markezinis Experiment” has been given excessive weight – first and foremost by the protagonist himself, who blamed his failure and downfall on negative American interference – namely on the then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s adversarial stance. Based on the examination of the international context in three main frameworks – namely its relations with the United States, Europe and the Cyprus issue – this article seeks to give an answer to the question of the foreign factor’s impact on the failure of the “experiment”.     

The Experimental Study of Palaeolithic Heat‐Treatment Technology: A Case from the Shuidonggou Rock Resources,North‐West China

The application of heat‐treatment technology on lithic raw materials is an important feature of early modern human behaviour. The evidence of heat‐treated stone artefacts discovered at Localities 2 and 12 of the Shuidonggou Late Palaeolithic site, North‐West China, provides an important example for studying this technology among ancient humans in Asia during the Late Palaeolithic. The mechanism and effects of heat treatment on raw materials and the role of this technology in producing stone tools were studied by means of a simulation experiment and related analytical methods. These facilitated an in‐depth analysis of the heat‐treatment activities of the Shuidonggou occupants and their implications for cognitive ability and survival strategies of human populations at that time.     

1959年全国急性传染病学术会议的历史考察

1959年5月,为适应防疫的需要并迎接新中国成立10周年,中华人民共和国卫生部、中国人民解放军总后勤部卫生部和中华医学会在北京联合召开了全国急性传染病学术会议。会议贯彻中西医结合的卫生工作方针,结合时代发展需要,交流并总结了新中国成立以来医学界在防治急性传染病方面取得的成功经验,制定了8种急性传染病防治方案,对此后的传染病防治和研究起到了重要的推动作用。此次会议既为当代中国防疫史增添了浓墨重彩的一笔,同时也在我国医学发展史上具有重要意义。     

北京延庆岔道城明代城墙灰浆失效因素研究

古代砖砌墙体多用灰浆作为黏结材料,其老化失效是墙体损毁的重要原因之一.本文应用红外热成像仪、X-射线荧光分析仪、X-射线衍射仪和离子色谱仪等,分析了北京市延庆地区明代岔道城遗址灰浆及其保存环境状况,通过模拟老化试验探讨了影响其长期保存的主要因素,为此类砖砌墙体保护与维修提供依据.     

利用微量元素示踪青铜器矿料来源的实验研究

通过仿古范铸实验和微量元素分析研究,可以初步得出利用微量元素示踪青铜器产地及矿料来源或探索古代矿冶产品输出路线是可行的,但要走新的技术路线的看法。     

对党报新闻策划的几点思考

成功的新闻策划以其深度关注社会热点,分析社会现象,追踪民意焦点而形成新闻报道的亮点和卖点。鉴于目前党报在新闻策划工作方面仍存在许多不足,笔者指出,应在遵循新闻报道真实性的基础上,努力提高新闻策划的能力。     

铜绿山古铜矿遗址古坑木防腐保护

通过模拟试验和现场试验,对铜绿山古铜矿遗址古坑木的保护方法进行了研究,找到了一种较适合于古铜矿遗址使用的古坑木保护方法,取得了较好的效果。     

From operculum to bead: Production of pearls from opercular bones of Cyprinus carpio in the Romanian Eneolithic

Significant amounts of opercular bones from Cyprinus carpio, used to manufacture circular pearls for adornments, were found from the Romanian Eneolithic, associated with the Gumelnita culture. The origins of this raw material are local: the carp was an important food resource for the communities located close to the River Danube. An experimental program was undertaken to obtain replicas of pearls of C. carpio, to compare with the archaeological pieces, in order to identify an a chain of manufacture resulting in the finished pieces. The study of the adornments represents an inexhaustible source of reflection because, through them we can identify aspects of the human groups' symbolical behaviour, and socio-economical aspects of these communities' evolution. In this case they suggest that the aquatic world, with its resources, had an important position in the spiritual life of these communities.     

Performance of Buried Gas Distribution Pipelines Subjected to Reverse Fault Movement

In the current work, the results of full-scale laboratory testing of 114.3 and 168.3 mm in diameter steel gas distribution pipes buried at different depths and in two different soil types under a reverse fault offset of 0.6 m are presented and discussed in terms of longitudinal strain distribution, pipe deformation, and cross-section distortion. Results show that the pipe deformation and accordingly its failure mode, and soil failure planes change with increasing burial depth. It was also found that severe cross-section distortion occurs at about 2.3 times the strain limit for onset of wrinkling suggested by various guidelines.